On September 20, 2022, Guo Wei, Head of Office of the People's Republic of China to the State of Palestine, published a signed article “Carrying Forward the Shanghai Spirit to Build a Beautiful Home Together” at the Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, interpreting the spirit of Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the Samarkand Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO), expounding the Shanghai Spirit of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development, and introducing that China's new journey brings new opportunities for world peace and development. The full text is as follows:

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the SCO Charter and the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Long-Term Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Between SCO Member States. The SCO has played an active role and made contributions to Eurasian and international affairs. On September 16, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the Samarqand Summit, and gave an insightful review of the success of the SCO. 

—Political trust.Guided by the vision of forging enduring friendship and peace among the SCO member states, we respect each other's core interests and choice of development path and support each other in achieving peace, stability, development and rejuvenation.

— Win-win cooperation. We accommodate each other's interests, stay true to the principle of consultation and cooperation for shared benefits, enhance synergy between our respective development strategies, and keep to the path of win-win cooperation toward common prosperity.

— Equality between nations. We are committed to the principle of equality among all countries regardless of their size, consensus-based decision-making, and addressing issues through friendly consultations. We reject the practice of the strong bullying the weak or the big bullying the small.

— Openness and inclusiveness. We stand for harmonious coexistence and mutual learning between different countries, nations and cultures, dialogue between civilizations and seeking common ground while shelving differences. We are ready to establish partnership and develop win-win cooperation with other countries and international organizations that share our vision.

— Equity and justice. We are committed to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter; we tackle major international and regional issues on the basis of their merits, and oppose the pursuit of one's own agenda at the expense of other countries’ legitimate rights and interests.

These five points fully embody the Shanghai Spirit, which is the source of strength for the development of the SCO, and also the fundamental guide that the SCO must continue to follow in the years to come. Through joint efforts of all parties, the summit adopted over 40 outcome documents covering economy, finance, technology, culture, institution-building, external exchanges and so on. Particularly, under the initiative of the Chinese side, heads of state of the SCO member states adopted four major statements on international energy and food security, tackling climate change, and keeping supply chains secure, stable and diversified. The Samarkand Summit had more participating leaders and more outcome documents than any previous summit in the history of the SCO.  

It is particularly noteworthy that before the summit, an increasing number of countries had applied for joining the SCO. China and other member states of the SCO together adopted a holistic approach to these applications and conducted equal-footed consultations. At the summit, the SCO accepted Iran as a member state, supported the starting of the procedure for the accession of Belarus, granted Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar the status of SCO dialogue partners, and reached agreement on admitting Bahrain, the Maldives, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Myanmar as new dialogue partners. This is a new and  the largest expansion for the SCO. It helps consolidate its standing and influence of the SCO as an organization for regional cooperation with the largest population and the largest landmass in the world, and demonstrates the dynamism, ability to unite, and appeal of the Shanghai Spirit. The expansion also fully shows that the SCO is not an isolated and exclusive “small clique”, but an open and inclusive “big family”.It has shown stronger vitality and more promising prospects, and will inject more positive energy and new impetus into safeguarding peace and prosperity of the Eurasian continent and the world, and play an exemplary role in promoting the building of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind. 

Next month, the Communist Party of China will convene its 20th National Congress. At this national congress, the Communist Party of China will fully review the major achievements made and valuable experience gained in China's reform and development endeavors. It will also formulate programs of action and overarching policies to meet China's new development goals on the journey ahead in the new era and the new expectations of the people. Just as Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized, we will continue to follow the Chinese path to modernization to achieve the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and we will continue to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. By doing so, we will create new opportunities for the world with new advances in China's development and contribute our vision and strength to world peace and development and human progress.